TO BE HONEST, Dear Farmketeers, we are not really foodies. Oh sure, we grow 31 kinds of tomatoes, 477 types of fruit trees, and 76 varieties of apples – some of them more exotic, dare we say recherché, than a straight talking politician. But we farmers are not gourmands or epicures or fetishizers. Our thoughts are turned to rather more lofty ideas

Announcing Indian Creek Space Force. We look to the skies from here at The ‘Henge. Formerly called Stumphenge til the apple stumps rotted last year. Now in the Stone Age with rock seats. But, soon we will enter the Space Age. The ‘Henge is Mission Control. Everybody is Mission Commander. All Loyal ‘Creekniks get a seat on the first rocket to Space Farm.

It was Space Farmer Tino’s brainchild. He saw a face in an apple one day. To him it was the Man in the Moon. He bit the Man in the Moon in the head. Thus he seized the idea in mind and body. He carpe’d the diem with the gusto of Musk. (Come pick apples now! Dayton, Elstar, Jonamac, Autumn Crisp, and more as new rows ripen!)

Space Farmer Hannah is in charge of miniaturization. There is not much cupboard space on the rocket. We will need freeze-dried ice cream and tiny vegetables. This is her first trial. A purple pocket pepper, about the size of your big toe. (You can come pick peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes! 31 types of tomatoes and the season is short!)

Space Farmer Greg is in charge of the anarchists. And the flowers. The New York Times is reporting that Indian Creek Space Force is a non-hierarchical hierarchy and there are no “senior administration officials,” though there is rumored to be a “quiet resistance.” Anyway Space Farmer First Class Greg is in charge of the pancake-flat org chart and has declared a sale on flowers: Get 2-for-1 u-pick bouquets through Friday, 9/7/18. Cut your own bouquet for $5, get the second one free. Bring your own clippers if you remember, ours keep floating off to a remote orbit.

Space Team Five is in charge of peach picking! This gang of 5 recruits picked 2 pecks in like a minute and made cobbler, crisp, and freezer bags of chopped peaches. Thanks to Jenna for the family photo. Come pick peaches – this is the final week of heavy peach picking action. Crowds will demolish the orchards forthwith.

If you get here before Saturday, save $5 on every peck box of pre-picked peaches you buy at the stand. Get $20 pecks down from $25 each. That works out to 20% OFF. This kind of Space Age math will almost definitely inspire some rocket scientist to chew us out at the farmstand, but let’s give it a whirl. You will save $20 (which, as luck would have it, is 20%) on a bushel because you will pay $80 per bushel instead of $100, because 1 bushel = 4 pecks = 32 quarts = 64 pints = who knows how many pounds? Depends. Maybe 50 or 60 pounds. But the sale doesn’t go by weight. Please don’t yell at the farm stand worker when your mental calculator pops a spring. Instead, turn your animus into a nice peaceful cobbler for your neighbor with the sore back or broken heart. Sale ends Friday 9/7/18 at midnight. But we close at 8.

Pick Bartlett pears and Asian pears. Pears are the bridge between peach season and apple season. There will be a few more pear varieties to ripen in coming weeks. But the crisp, delicious, prized Asian pears will all get gobbled very soon. Come pick Asian pears now, they are a treat. Bartletts are beautiful and love to be poached.

Pick tomatoes. Farmer Steve says there are 31 varieties. Farmer Robert the Bruce says 38. Truth is usually somewhere in between. Come make your own count. Pick tomatoes now, we keep saying the season might be short, not sure why we keep saying that, but pick away.

Pick apples in the Dwarf Orchard. Autumn Crisp (called NYS 674 on our signage), plus Dayton, Elstar, Jonamac. All great apples. This postmodern apple design was courtesy of the European Apple Sawfly. It’s so Euro and pretentious. But perfectly good eating. The swirly part tastes good. Pick apples now, ask at the stand for the row map.

Fall raspberries are not ready yet. Patience please! But warm up your appetite with these pancakes topped with peanut butter and homemade summer raspberry jam. Space Farmer @gazellie will be in charge of Space Farm’s bakery.